Tsunami email hoaxer charged

A British man has been arrested in London and charged with sending hoax emails to individuals telling them they had lost relatives in the tsunami disaster which caused devastation in coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and much of Southern Asia.

Father of two Christopher Pierson, 40, was arrested on 1 January and charged yesterday at Horseferry Magistrates court, where he pleaded guilty to sending more than 30 hoax emails which purported to be from the Foreign Office. Pierson now faces sentencing later this month.

Pierson appears to have harvested his email addresses from a message board hosted by broadcaster Sky where concerned friends and family members of people travelling in the affected areas could share information, leave contact details and post messages.

According to reports Pierson's emails stated: "The UK government regretted to inform the victim that the missing person they were inquiring about was confirmed dead."

The UK government has issued a statement saying no relatives will be contacted with such news via email.

Pierson's defence attributed the emails to "a moment of madness".

Many traditional lines of communication have been cut off because of power outages and damaged infrastructure and services.

For many, email has become the most reliable form of communication since the disaster. The mother of one holidaymaker travelling in Thailand, who was due in Phuket on 26 December, told silicon.com the family's first news came via email around midday on 28 December after their son had been unable to get in touch via telephone.

Many other email hoaxers, most notably spammers and those committing frauds such as the Nigerian 419 scam, prey upon any topical event to find a hook for their emails – no matter how tasteless. For every genuine email circulating on the subject of the tsunami disaster there is likely to become a growing number of fraudulent and hoax mails. Already hoax emails asking for donations have been seen trying to scam money from those looking to donate. The first seen by silicon.com arrived as early as 27 December.

Donations to the tsunami appeal are being taken through the Disasters Emergency Committee website. Brendan Gormley, CEO of the DEC, said: "The DEC would urge people to donate online if they have the choice. All donations are of course welcome but online donations reach us immediately. There are more than 11,000 online donations an hour at present and we are hopeful that many additional millions of pounds will be donated in this manner."

Past disasters such as the 11 September attacks in the US have given rise to email hoaxes and scams and users are urged to be on the lookout for anything suspicious preying on the current crisis in Asia.